How do I maintain neutral reputation?

Princess_Sarah

Hi There! first up I am new to these forums so if this is in the wrong section it would be great if the mods could move it for me

so to my question …

I am on my first play through of BG:EE, playing as a druid. I have noticed that my rep has been climbing quite quickly and I am now at 13 (popular). As my character is neutral I feel it makes sense to try and keep from getting too heroic but I am worried my rep will get too high. Does anyone have any tips for keeping rep under control for a neutral character?

I have being trying to balance out rep losses and gains but find a lot of the dialogue options don't fit a neutral character very well. I am happy to refuse to do things which are too "goody goody" for my char but it seems like most of the rep losses come from quest conclusions and being out and out evil. I don't think it fits that my character would be particularly greedy when it comes to being paid, or that she would be rude/hostile towards everyone given that she has 18 charisma. I do let her be a little bloodthirsty to balance off her politeness, so I don't accept an enemy's surrender (unless they are more use alive) but it also seems like killing enemies rather than letting them go does not net you a rep decrease?

I have got some magpie like tendencies and cannot resist having Imoen break in everywhere and open all containers (I don't always take stuff - I just like to know what's inside lol) but I don't let myself get seen so don't seem to lose any rep doing this. I read somewhere that you can lose rep if you get caught thieving and run away before the guards come to avoid the huge rep loss from killing all the guards, but I tried this out and there was no loss unless I killed the guards, which took me too far down. I don't want my good party members to walk or to end up turing towns hostile towards me.

also on a related note can anyone clarify for me what exactly the reputation is? it seems like it is how the world views my party rather then how my party members view me, so will I be alright to keep evil party member like Dorn around if I get a high reputation as my party members know different to the world in general? If this is the case do I need to be careful my lawful good part members don't get upset by my thieving and violent ways?

Thanks for the help - much appreciated.

Blackraven

You make some good points. It's not that easy to maintain a neutral rep. I wouldn't do it by compensating any good deeds you've done with evil actions, that's not what a druid is about. You might want to skip certain quest reward talks. And you can indeed have Imoen get caught by a guard when she's stolen something. Once she talks to the guard and challenges him, your party will lose a rep. point. If you fight and kill the guard, your rep will decrease even more (how much, depends on your rep. score).

As to your last question, reputation affects the way other characters react to you. This includes party members. In most but not all encounters, your so-called reaction adjustment consists of two parameters: reputation and charisma.

Have a look at this page. It has some usful info: http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Reputation

Corvino

Evil party members will leave if reputation gets to 19 or 20, Similarly Good NPCs will leave if it falls too low. Neutral NPCs will whine a bit at extremes of reputation but never leave. Reputation is a mix of how well known and well liked you are. Many people think it's a daft system. You do however get discounts at shops if it is high. Paladins and Rangers can "Fall" if their rep goes too low, which leaves them as fighters with no grandmastery and poor XP progression.

Unfortunately BG1/EE tends to reward you with rep gains for doing plot-critical quests like the Nashkel Mines. If you ask for the largest reward possible you'll often be able to minimise rep gain though. The only ways to drop Repuation are by doing evil things. A typical example is to steal from a shop and then run away - the shopkeeper will turn hostile and you can't go back there though.

Princess_Sarah

Thanks for the help both of you. I see where I might have been going wrong with the thieving rep loss so will try it out and have Imoen talk to the guard and then scarper - although it goes against the instincts of my inner thief to willingly let myself get caught!

it is a shame what the world thinks of me and what individual party members think are not separated a bit more - it always seemed a bit odd to me that lawful good party members happily stood around watching Imoen grab everything in sight!

I may have to just occasionally let myself get caught to stop my rep getting too high although it's a shame there does not seem to be a less artificial way of staying neutral.

elminster

Find someone rich, and kill them, find someone richer and kill them too. Hack and slash your way to fortune!

dragon84

elminster said:

Find someone rich, and kill them, find someone richer and kill them too. Hack and slash your way to fortune!

With traps, don't forget the traps

DregothofTyr

What my druid did was when she got to 18 rep and Xzar and Montaron were about to leave, she went and did the Cloakwood mines. On the 2nd level there is a cook who is going to get killed by the flood anyway, not to mention that she's complicit in slavery. So i put her out of her misery. This brought my rep down to around 12. Now I'm in Chapter 5 and my rep has gone back up to 18. I'm going to have to find another morally questionable commoner and put them out of their misery.

Blackraven

Very clever, submitting the complicit cook to the backhand of justice. Compassionate even, as you spared her the anxiety, the panic and the hopeless struggle that would have involved her drowning in the flood.
As for a future victim: Phandalyn in SW Baldur's Gate?

Princess_Sarah

@DregothofTyr‌ that is a good idea and feels a far less out of character way of doing it than having to act like a crazed manic or out and out wealth orientated character. I shall try to put this into practice on my druid play through. thanks for the tip

DregothofTyr

Thanks. Not to mention that she was probably a psychopath anyway. You get finished murdering a dozen of her employers and what's her response? She flirts with you (If you talk to her with a male). Phandalyn is a good idea, I think I will take him out next. He essentially goes around murdering people just because he perceives them as evil, yet I'm the one who loses reputation for defending myself from him? So be it - the balance must be maintained.

SCARY_WIZARD

At times, take the more beneficial option over the more altruistic one.

Phandalyn is also a good one, since he seems to have missed a couple of pointers while taking his vows...some public blunt/magical/piercing/slashing trauma might fix this.

Viconia and/or Dorn will only "de-pad" things so much...but they can help.


For added funsies, try and emulate the dogma of certain Druidic deities!